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DIY: Do It Yourself Post here to share or improve your wrench turning skills! All BMW E46 DIY tips, tales, and projects discussed inside. Learn to work on your car and know the right BMW parts you will need!

Hi Everyone, decided to make this DIY as i had to piece it together from other threads involving dynavins, av inputs and headunit swapping.

Firstly, DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK. I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS AND MY ADVICE IS ONLY TAKEN AS ADVICE....NOTHING MORE. Good Luck

So Firstly, the components:
-Av Input harness for factory inputs or if your creative, use the pinout guide [IMG] This Harness
- An Ebay Camera
(took me 2 attempts and this is the best so far *required a little dremmeling to get a nice fit
[URL="http://www.ebay.com/itm/150785644470?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649"]This Camera
- Extra electrical wire
- T-20 Socket

So, making sure that your camera is NTSC (unless you have navcoder to change the input) will make this task a lot quicker than my install 4 weeks total due to my stupidity of jumping on a cheap buy

Follow my other DIY of installing the Av Harness Here

Step 1)
Take off the inner boot (trunk) lining
This is a must as you will be routing the av and trigger wire through here.

Step 2)
Removing the boot grab handle with the 4x T-20 screws, gently pull it off.....you might need a little force as 10 years of grime can be quite adhesive

Step 3)
Remove the connector to the boot latch and license plate lights (trick with a tiny flat blade screw driver, wedge it in slightly and twist it up gently to allow it to slide out because the little plastic nub is quite brittle

DO NOT CLOSE YOUR BOOT OR YOUR FVCKED, PUT SOMETHING TO PREVENT IT FROM CLOSING LIKE A TRIPOD I HAD LAYING IN MY BOOT

Fun Part...

Step 4)
Take out the bayonet bulb and pry open, its surrounded by the foam gasket (carefully to retain the top cover which needs to be broke off its melted plastic rivets)

Step 5)
Disconnect the cabling and remove the bracket housing the bulb

Step 6)
Test fit the camera and dremmel where required to ensure an adequate fit.

Step 7)
Connect the license plate bulb wiring to the new led one on the camera with solder and heat shrink ( there are two ground wires so use a multi meter to find them)

Step 8)
Cover it back with the top cover and a dab of some super glue to hold the wires in tight

Step 9)
Feed the wires through first before reconnecting the handle grab, including through the little circular whole where the trunk release adn license plate light cable and connector feeds through.

Step 10)
Solder with heat shrink the cameras pos and neg to the reverse light on the right hand side of the car as this is near the rubber wire tube. (does not cause bulb out as it requires so little electricity to operate)

Step 11)
Cut off the av connector plug and feed it with the electrical wire that acts as a trigger down toward the rubber tube.

Step 12)
Trick with this install is instead of going down through the top of the tube; get a firm blunt wire (rc car antenna is best) and start fondling the rubber tube to make it through the twists and turns of the grommets. Then once it comes through the top, tape the av cable to it first NOT WITH TRIGGER WIRE and gently pull it through, easing the wire through as it could damage the cars wiring if not being gentle.

Step 13)
When av cable is through, tape the trigger wire to the av cable and pull it through gently, one cable first makes it easier as opposed to doing both and causing too much traffic in the rubber tube.

Step 14)
Route it through to the other side of the trunk where the tv tuner is, dad and i found that it is easiest to take the wheel spare hatch off and run it along the back where the carpet starts.

Hi Everyone, decided to make this DIY as i had to piece it together from other threads involving dynavins, av inputs and headunit swapping.

Firstly, DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK. I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS AND MY ADVICE IS ONLY TAKEN AS ADVICE....NOTHING MORE. Good Luck

So Firstly, the components:
-Av Input harness for factory inputs or if your creative, use the pinout guide [IMG] This Harness
- An Ebay Camera

(took me 2 attempts and this is the best so far *required a little dremmeling to get a nice fit
[URL="http://www.ebay.com/itm/150785644470?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649"]This Camera
- Extra electrical wire
- T-20 Socket

So, making sure that your camera is NTSC (unless you have navcoder to change the input) will make this task a lot quicker than my install 4 weeks total due to my stupidity of jumping on a cheap buy

Follow my other DIY of installing the Av Harness Here

Step 1)
Take off the inner boot (trunk) lining
This is a must as you will be routing the av and trigger wire through here.

Step 2)
Removing the boot grab handle with the 4x T-20 screws, gently pull it off.....you might need a little force as 10 years of grime can be quite adhesive

Step 3)
Remove the connector to the boot latch and license plate lights (trick with a tiny flat blade screw driver, wedge it in slightly and twist it up gently to allow it to slide out because the little plastic nub is quite brittle

DO NOT CLOSE YOUR BOOT OR YOUR FVCKED, PUT SOMETHING TO PREVENT IT FROM CLOSING LIKE A TRIPOD I HAD LAYING IN MY BOOT

Fun Part...

Step 4)
Take out the bayonet bulb and pry open, its surrounded by the foam gasket (carefully to retain the top cover which needs to be broke off its melted plastic rivets)

Step 5)
Disconnect the cabling and remove the bracket housing the bulb

Step 6)
Test fit the camera and dremmel where required to ensure an adequate fit.

Step 7)
Connect the license plate bulb wiring to the new led one on the camera with solder and heat shrink ( there are two ground wires so use a multi meter to find them)

Step 8)
Cover it back with the top cover and a dab of some super glue to hold the wires in tight

Step 9)
Feed the wires through first before reconnecting the handle grab, including through the little circular whole where the trunk release adn license plate light cable and connector feeds through.

Step 10)
Solder with heat shrink the cameras pos and neg to the reverse light on the right hand side of the car as this is near the rubber wire tube. (does not cause bulb out as it requires so little electricity to operate)
Step 11)
Cut off the av connector plug and feed it with the electrical wire that acts as a trigger down toward the rubber tube.

Step 12)
Trick with this install is instead of going down through the top of the tube; get a firm blunt wire (rc car antenna is best) and start fondling the rubber tube to make it through the twists and turns of the grommets. Then once it comes through the top, tape the av cable to it first NOT WITH TRIGGER WIRE and gently pull it through, easing the wire through as it could damage the cars wiring if not being gentle.

Step 13)
When av cable is through, tape the trigger wire to the av cable and pull it through gently, one cable first makes it easier as opposed to doing both and causing too much traffic in the rubber tube.

Step 14)
Route it through to the other side of the trunk where the tv tuner is, dad and i found that it is easiest to take the wheel spare hatch off and run it along the back where the carpet starts.

Step 15)
Connect up the relay with the trigger wire
from this thread
http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthr...t=relay+camera

Step 16)
Find a grounding point, dad used the factory ground point of the tuner